Infinity Ward

When Infinity Ward lost two of its founders, Jason West and Frank Zampella, I wondered how that studio would fair. The developer works in tandem with Treyarch on the Call of Duty series. One studio releases an entry while the other works on theirs in a back-and-forth schedule that’s produce a game every year like clockwork. With that loss of leadership, who would enter to fill that void? Better yet, with that messy disruption and the numerous departures, how could Infinity Ward ship its latest game in time?

ECHOES OF WORLD WAR II: At the E3 Activision booth, I saw the same demo that the company showed at the Microsoft news conference. In Hunter Killer, a team of special forces members hijack a Russian submarine and use its missiles to retaliate against the Kremlin. The setup screams Hollywood blockbuster, and in a way, it echoes back to the series’ origins in World War II.

During the special forces escape, they’ll see battleships firing at each other and aircraft carriers slowly sinking. Meanwhile, skyscrapers along the New York waterfront will be set on fire. Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer games even managed to get the Freedom Tower in the distance despite the building not being completed yet.

For someone who grew up collecting comic books in the 1990s, this is deja vu all over again. My two favorite hobbies as a teenager — video games and comic books — have coalesced in my adulthood as I watch this back and forth between Activision and Electronic Arts and the merry-go-round of developers that include Respawn Entertainment, Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games and Visceral Games.

If you didn’t hear the news, former Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella have officially signed with EA Partners and created a new studio called Respawn Entertainment. It’s a move that surprises no one and arrives almost as a counterblow after Activision stole away Visceral Games’ chief Glen Schofield (The guy who helmedDead Space.) and gave him a studio right near EA headquarters in Foster City. That move was like Activision punching EA in the face and saying,”Nyah, nyah.” and EA firing back saying, “You take our people. We’ll take your people.”

The move only serves to intensify a brutal rivalry between the giants. The industry hasn’t seen anything this intense since the Sega vs. Nintendo days, when one company tweaked the other with “blast processing” and “doing what Nintendon’t.” Ah those were the days.

Well, we got it yesterday and we dragged ourselves away from the game long enough to post this video. We unboxed the Modern Warfare 2 Prestige Edition, and I have to say it’s a pretty impressive package. We tried out the night vision goggles, and the interesting thing is that it’s near-sighted friendly. It seems as if there’s two screens inside that make up your vision.

If you’re not a fan of NBA Playoff basketball, then you may have missed the Modern Warfare 2 trailer. It made its debut Sunday during the Cavs and Magic game. After watching the clip, my anticipation for this game has been kicked up a couple of notches. Can’t wait to see if it’s at E3.